Alaska Gold Rush Diary

Chapter 157 The Governor's Commission

Chapter 158 The Governor's Commission

After hearing Stanton's introduction of Zhou Xin, Gibson also became very interested in this young gold prospector.

"From what you're saying, it seems he can accurately pinpoint the gold buried deep in the soil?"

"That's right, as you know, the government strictly prohibits ordinary people from drilling for gold on their own, so gold prospectors have no way of knowing the distribution of gold deep in the soil through surveying."

Under these circumstances, he boldly rented a piece of land with almost no gold in the topsoil, and then, you know what, he discovered an astonishing amount of gold there.

Gibson frowned slightly, pondering, and said, "Based on your experience, can you figure out how he did it?"

Stanton shook his head with a hint of shame: "I'm sorry, I can't imagine how he did it, but I have some guesses."

"What conjecture?" Gibson listened intently.

"It's very simple, it's just the instinct of a gold prospector."

"Intuition?" Gibson looked incredulous.

"That's right, it's intuition. This kind of thing really exists. I've had this intuition occasionally before, which is that when you set foot on a piece of land, you can immediately feel whether there is gold on that land and how much gold there is."

However, my intuition only came a few times, and it wasn't particularly accurate.

But I think there must exist people in the world with an extraordinary intuition that allows them to sense the gold within the soil.

Gibson clearly didn't quite agree with Stanton's conjecture, and continued, "Besides that, do you have any other conjectures?"

Stanton chuckled: "The rest aren't guesses, they're pure fantasy. It's like he's the legendary King of Gold, McDonald, who can smell the gold in the soil."

Gibson laughed along, "If that's the case, then he'll probably surpass Musk soon and become America's new richest man."

After chatting for a while, Gibson changed the subject and said, "I came here this time because I have something I'd like to ask you."

"Please speak, but I don't know how this old man can help you in any way."

"Perhaps only you can help with this," Gibson said, pulling something from his pocket and handing it to Stanton. "I'd like you to put this in the sight of your members."

Stanton took the item, examined it closely for a while, and asked curiously, "This badge has a unique design; I've never seen one like it before. What kind of badge is it?"

"I can't answer that right now. What I need your help with is to make sure your members look for these badges when they're looking for gold."

Stanton looked puzzled: "The gold we pan for is all naturally formed gold dust and nuggets; there's no way there could be artificial gold like this."

He looked again at the five-pointed star-shaped gold badge in his hand, confirming that he hadn't misread it; it was indeed not naturally formed.

Gibson laughed and said, "I'm just giving it a try, maybe I'll get some unexpected benefits."

Although he was very puzzled, Stanton nodded and returned the badge to Gibson.

Led by Audrey, Zhou Xin and Zhang Jianing arrived at a room on the first floor.

It was a study, and the walls were covered with photos, some in black and white and some in color.

The two admired the photos by the wall and discovered that they were all photos documenting Stanton's gold rush career.

"My grandfather dedicated almost his entire life to gold mining."

Audrey held a photograph and stroked it, a complex expression on her face.

It was a photo of Stanton with her, who was only about ten years old, at the mine.

"Mr. Stanton was truly a great gold prospector; his story is truly amazing," Zhou Xin said sincerely, looking at the photos on the wall.

-

"I prefer to call him a gold rush fanatic. He's not interested in anything but gold panning. If his health didn't prevent him now, he would definitely still be working in the mine."

"Being able to do something you love for a lifetime is actually a happy thing," Zhang Jianing said.

Audrey nodded: "You're right. Grandfather was happy most of the time. He often told me that panning for gold made him forget all his troubles."

However, it was precisely because of the gold rush that he carried a regret that plagued him for half his life.

"With such a successful gold rush business, how could he have any regrets?" Zhou Xin knew that Stanton had already made it onto the Alaskan rich list through gold mining and was the goal and idol of everyone in the gold mining guild.

Audrey sighed: "When he was in his forties, he spent a huge sum of money to buy a large piece of land north of Fairbanks. He said he felt there was an unimaginable gold reserve there, and he called it the Gold Mine."

He spent his entire life searching for that golden nest, but he never found it.

We all thought he was delusional; how could he make a decision based on just a feeling? But he was absolutely convinced of it.

He searched for that gold mine for over a decade, and although he didn't find it, he still managed to amass a huge amount of gold using that land.

However, he was not satisfied. In his view, that gold was nothing compared to the gold in the gold mine.

It seems Mr. Stanton is a stubborn to the point of being obsessive. Zhou Xin thought to himself.

To decide on something based on intuition and dedicate more than a decade to it undoubtedly requires immense courage.

"Perhaps your grandfather simply used the Golden Nest as a goal for himself. He was afraid he wouldn't be able to persevere, so he used the Golden Nest as a way to motivate himself," Zhou Xin suggested.

“No,” Audrey shook her head. “We thought so at first, but his behavior completely convinced that the Golden Nest really exists.”

"He's a really unique person," Zhang Jianing said, expressing her opinion of Stanton.

"I grew up in the mine with my grandfather, and knowing that the gold mine had become an obsession for him, even now that he has left the mine, he still takes out the map of the place and studies it until late at night from time to time."

I think he might die with this regret.

Audrey's face fell; clearly, she had a good relationship with Stanton and couldn't bear to see her grandfather live with such regret.

Zhou Xin and Zhang Jianing didn't know how to comfort her, so they both remained silent.

Stanton's Don Quixote-like behavior is truly baffling, leaving one unsure how to evaluate it.

"Is the land Stanton bought still being used for mining?" Zhou Xin tried to change the subject, not wanting the atmosphere to become too awkward.

"Yes, my grandfather spent more than ten years digging up that land but still couldn't finish. In order to give him hope, I rented the land to Parker cheaply, hoping that the gold rush king could help my grandfather realize his dream."

It seems that although Audrey says she doesn't believe her grandfather's story of the Golden Nest, she is actually still hoping to find that place.

"They haven't finished digging it out in over a decade. Just how big is that piece of land?" Zhou Xin asked curiously.

"About 150 million acres."

7

Zhou Xin: "————!!!"

"7